Jemele and Mike

I don't love being a lawyer, though there are things I like about it. One of those things is that your arguments have to withstand a withering crucible that they don't in journalism or most forms of writing, really. I'm reading a novel right now that, like many in the "Gone Girl" lineage, cheats to build suspense by wrapping up its various threads series of far-fetched, unsupported events at the end. It is being universally praised.

 

Wrote the shit out of Lionel Messi, though, is the word on the street.

 

Good drinkin' buddy too.

 

Maybe not. More and more people are being told to Be Careful.

 

No.

 

"Sorry to say this, I don't think he's been that good from the get-go," Limbaugh
said. "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in
the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback
do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a
lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't
deserve. The defense carried this team."

Is what she said worse than this? More or less true? Assuming Limbaugh was 6% correct.

I take Jemelle literally, but not seriously.

 

The bigger picture issue that is interesting to me that comes out of the Hill defenses here is that they seem indicative of the nearly universal praise that writers, whether novelists or journalists, receive from mainstream critics. You don't see that from TV, movie, music, or restaurant critics, necessarily. Writers are protective of other writers. A NYT book critic put Alix Ohlin on blast a few years ago (I like Alix Ohlin) and Twitter lost its collective shit over it. One bad review.

 

This is an aside, but given a choice between two writers of equal talents, editors are going to pick the one who's not an asshole. How you treat the people you work with matters in this business. Word travels.

 

I had the same thought about you earlier in the thread - something like "Dick is in the right line of work" - and that's exactly what I had in mind.

 

@YankeeFan wanted a specific example, and I gave it. You claim you want to argue on the merits.

 

If I could pick my cases, I would be. For all that people accuse me of being a "troll" here, I have a really difficult time mustering enthusiasm when I know I'm on the wrong side of an argument. When I feel like I'm on the right side of it, I feel like a pitbull.

 

I prefer my columnists, when in their 30s and with more than a decade of experience, not to get in repeated vitriolic social-media controversies that require multiple warnings and suspensions. Toning down the racially inflammatory language would also be nice. I think that's also a reflection of the person, and probably the more important one since it's on display to all of your customers rather than a handful of internal folks.

To each their own, I guess.